For me Cameron is more popular than artistic. I did love Aliens however, that's Cameron at his best, one of the best horror and best science fiction films ever, two genres in one. You could also say it's a great military action film as well, a "bug war" as Bill Paxton calls it early on. The film has genuine creepiness interspersed with some great action sequences, it blows away the Ridley Scott original, Alien, which was lame and predictable by comparison, with the same event over and over until there was one, Sigourney Weaver.

I found Terminator 2 to be a far better sequel than the original promised, which was almost 'b' level SF from the 50's, with an evil robot running after a kid and his mom to kill them and prevent some future revolution. The 2nd one emphasized action and mind-bending special effects. My favorite scene was when the new terminator became a linoleum floor as a disguise - I mean, who thinks of that?

By contrast, Avatar, which was a not so thinly disguised retelling of the story of the Lakota Souix, who were sitting on gold in the Black Hills of Dakota when the U.S. invaded them to steal the gold, is just another good vs bad guys war film, not very imaginitive other than some special effects, but a fairly juvenile sf story. He says he thought of it when he was a kid, that's about when boys find out about the Indian wars. The animation in the landscapes is also far better than the animation of the beings, something else that hurt the film, they looked stiff and fake, not as smoothe as early Disney hand animation even. Also overranked in the top 500 of all time. I see it as an animated film and not one of the best of those, just because the story is so lame - compare it to the Oscar-nominated screenplays of The Incredibles and Toy Story 3. (However, I did not see it in 3d, if that's it's true medium, and I'm seeing a limited version. As for Cameron on the photo at the top, I hear 3d is better with two women!)

It's obvious where Cameron got the aliens in

Avatar, from looking at Oscars on his mantlepiece

He gave one to some art director and said,

"Here, just stick some hair on it and pointy alien ears"

Titanic should only appeal to teenage girls, in my opinion, and that's from a Kate Winslet fan (from day one, in Heavenly Creatures (1994), Peter Jackson's first film and in which she sang an aria to the sunrise then lost all sanity). C'mon, it's total Hollywood b.s. It wasn't even the best picture of its year, Babe (1995), from Australia, was, easily - one of the best kids' films of all-time. Titanic was just a romantic best-seller put on film, it had mass appeal and little else. If you appeal to the common denominator, you'll make an average film that will appeal to the average filmgoer and you'll make big money. It's a simple formula. In another era, it was Gone With the Wind. The worst kind of 'chick flicks', those without much intelligence. I prefer Chaos (2001) or La Femme Nikita (1990), from France, or The Cuckoo (2002) , from Russia, or My Brilliant Career (1979), from Gillian Armstrong in Australia, for independent women, not those dependent on men.

I suppose The Abyss should be in here somewhere. Admittedly not great, but still, major league underwater science fiction - it just didn't have much pace or any 'wow' factor. But it was better than Titanic.

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Introduction to World's Best Films

We will review (spoiler-free capsule reviews) and list the greatest films in history, wherever and whenever they were produced.

All films in Gold won Best Picture Oscars®. * is a new addition in a list.

Our Top Ranked 1000 Films, all polls, was compiled by taking all film polls we could find, throwing them into a spreadsheet, and gave numeric points in descending order. The result was over 2200 films listed in all, ranked by their relative positions in all the polls combined. This combination of both critics and fans polls should give film fans the most objective list of how films are perceived by the total film community, not just a small group of fans.

Relevant to said mission is the following query which I now put forth to you: wherein this most streamlined and trunkless of transports, boner-inspiring though it may be, wherein are we to reposit our most recently deceased cargo?” - Sin City

Go ahead, make my millenium! - Beetlejuice

I have nothing, I am a river to my people! - Lawrence of Arabia

Hey, senor, how much for the leetul girl? How much for the women? - The Blues Brothers

It's a girl and a midget, 'gidget', get it? - Gidget

I've worked in the private sector, they expect results. - Ghostbusters

Man, that's one big twinkie! - Ghostbusters

I put the grrr in swinger, baby! - Austin Powers

Badges? We don got to show you no stinkin badges! - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Boredom's the first step on the road to relapse - Clerks II

I ain't 'people'! I am a.. 'a shimmering, glowing star in the cinema firmament' - Singin' in the RainIf we bring a little joy into your humdrum lives, it makes us feel as though our hard work ain't been in vain for nothin'. - Singin' in the Rain (both from Jean Hagen)

..More Quotes

I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore! - Network

Lend all men thine ear, but lend few your tongue - Hamlet

Neither a borrower nor a lender be. - Hamlet

Doubt the the stars are fire; doubt that the moon's above; doubt that the truth's a liar; but never doubt my love - Hamlet

I picked a helluva week to give up _____ - Airplane!

You can always pay half the poor to kill the other half. - Boss Tweed, Gangs of New York

The first rule of politics: the ballots don't make the election winner, the counters make the winner. - Boss Tweed, Gangs of New York

Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night - All About Eve

You can still dish it out, but you just can't take it anymore - Little Caesar